R e t a i l  T e c h  T a l k

August 2024

A Few Articles from In and Around the Retail Technology Industry

Retail Pro Software Assurance Explained

Article by Canadian Retail Solutions, July 30, 2024

Retail Pro is an investment for your retail business and ideally, we don’t want our investments to depreciate in value. When we make an investment, either personally or for our business, we go into it hoping that investment will only increase in value (or increase the value of our business). 

That being said, not all investments offer any kind of protection to prevent the depreciation of its value. Infact, MOST don’t! Could you imagine if we were reassured that the stocks we’re investing in would never depreciate in value? Or if the hardware we’re buying for our store would always be replaced with the latest and greatest version?

Software Assurance for Retail Pro protects your investment! 

WHAT is Software Assurance?

Retail Pro refers to Software Assurance as the “anti-depreciation solution for unaging software”. It’s a completely separate service from general support, but yet offers a whole different level of support that general support doesn’t touch. It’s an “assurance policy” that Retail Pro users can have peace of mind that their investment for their business retains its value within the ever-evolving world of retail and consumer trends!

HOW does Software Assurance differ from General Support?

First things first – Software Assurance is a service through Retail Pro. The development team of the POS software are behind all of the activity that happens through this service. General Support is a service through your business partner – such as Canadian Retail Solutions. The team is fully certified in Retail Pro and can assist retailers in everything from software support to reporting assistance and more. 

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Canadian Businesses Urged to Adapt with AI and Data-Driven Strategies Amid Rising Insolvencies

Article by Retail Insider, July 23, 2024

While Canadian businesses should be focused on shifting from survival mode to growth mode, many still find themselves working against tough economic times, and, largely due to their inability to adapt to modern ways of shopping, are faced with a wave of increased insolvencies. Regardless of the industry, modern solutions like artificial intelligence and automation have become increasingly important in an organization’s operations. To maintain a healthy and successful business, leaders must adapt their business to the latest landscape and ultimately, provide consumers with the seamless shopping experience they seek.

Coming out of the pandemic and faced with inflation, consumers changed their shopping habits and their expectations. While there were shifts in buying behavior as a result, expectations have remained high for a frictionless experience. Historically, customers prioritized quality service and fair pricing above all. Now, they expect more out of their shopping experience – personalized interactions, seamless shopping, proactive service and consistency across digital channels have become the norm for the modern consumer, with many considering the experience just as important as the product or service they’re paying for.

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How to Use Marketing Automation to Convert More Leads

Article by Shopify, July 18, 2024

Marketers know that personalization is effective. 

“The research supports that adding somebody’s first name into the subject line of an email significantly improves the likelihood that they will open that email [and] will engage with that email, and decreases the likelihood they will unsubscribe,” Neil Hoyne, chief strategist for data and measurement at Google, says in an episode of Shopify Masters. 

Of course, manually customizing your email subject lines for every single subscriber would be a full-time job. This is why many marketers use automation—it allows you to try marketing tactics you wouldn’t otherwise have time for, like personalizing your email subject lines. In this article, you’ll read real-life examples of how Shopify merchants use marketing automation software to grow their businesses and provide some best practices for incorporating automation into your marketing toolkit.

What is marketing automation? 

Marketing automation is the use of software to promote goods or services without manual intervention. Automation allows marketers to streamline repetitive tasks associated with executing a digital marketing strategy. (For example, personalized messaging that’s automatically sent to customers when they take certain actions, like signing up for a newsletter or putting something in their shopping cart.)

These messages are sent based on workflows, or sets of instructions, allowing businesses to deliver specific messages to customers when they do specific things. Workflows can be templated or built from scratch, and you can change them mid-campaign to optimize your results.

For example, say a prospective customer visits your website and signs up to receive a promo code to their email. That action might trigger a series of emails that starts with a welcome note and a discount code but continues for several weeks with content that educates them about your product.

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